History

BELUR GIRLS’ HIGH SCHOOL

In early 18th century, during the times ofg Lord Warren Hastings, Belur was a prospering and flourishing village under the Dewans of Paikpara---Dewan Gangagobindo Singha.The spread of education had just begun in Bengal and in 1855 , in a small hut , provided by the then Dewan Raja Iswarchandra Singha, a vernacular school was started by none other than the great reformier Pandit Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar along with some like minded people of Belur. It was called “ BANGLA SCHOOL”. In 1864 , a cyclone ravaged the village of Belur and the school was completely destroyed. On hearing this , Pandit Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar , along with his student Sri Khsetramohan Mallick rushed to Raja Iswarchandra Singha and appealed to him for help and restoration of the school building.The dewan not only granted their request ,but also donated half a bigha of land to the school. There started the journey of Belur Girls’ High school/ It was not a smooth journey by any means and the Girls; school didn’t actually until much later. The school went on quite smoothly and slowly upgrading its classes and in 1866, it came to be recognized as ‘ HIGH CLASS ENGLISH SCHOOL’ (H.C.E) through the efforts of the people of Belur. However , an epidemic outbreak in 1895, again changed the course of the history of the school. The malaria outbreak had forced the Dewans to retreat and the East India Company lost no time in acquiring “ Dakshinpara” a densely populated area of Belur. This led to a sudden fall in the roll strength of the school and the school lost its status of high school and was converted back into a Middle School. It was during this period that the school had one of the most illustrious visitors—Swami Vivekananda, who spent many an afternoon with the students of Belur M E School. The chair , used by him is preserved in the school till today. By 1932, the school had been upgraded to classVIII, and on the advice of Sri Promonath Bandopadhyay , the Inspector of Schools, the classes VII & VIII began its journey in a separate building. In January 1933 class IX was added, and the following year the first batch of students appeared for the Entrance Examination as “ Private Candidates.” In 1933 , a meeting was held which was attended by Swamiji’s disciple Miss Mcleod, who suggested that a separate school for girls should be made. By 1935, the school had got its recognition from the University of Calcutta and the name of the school was changed to Belur Jubilee School , honouring the Jubilee celebration of King George. Now the two schools were running simultaneously. In 1946, through the combined efforts of the members of the governing bodies of both the institution, the two schools were merged into one as “ BELUR H E SCHOOL”, but at this time the need for a separate girls school was also felt and finally in 1955 , the Girls school started its separate journey as Belur Girls’ High School Today the school stands proudly, on G. T Road , bearing its heritage of a glorious past. Every year the girls leave the school , having been enriched in its rich history. Both the Secondary and the Higher Secondary ( added in 1998) results bear testimony that till this day the school is carrying out the standards set forth by the founders.